One of the challenges that Karen and I have had since we’ve started our business on a full-time basis is managing our reactions to the good and not so good moments.

We’ve had a couple of weeks when we haven’t had as many clients as we had hoped or when there have been a few last minute cancellations, which can easily lead us to momentarily doubt the long-term viability of our business.

Conversely, there have been weeks where we’ve had an increase in clients ( and money) and are tempted to go around high-fiving each other, thinking that we are the second coming of Sir Richard Branson.

Then, I came across from Rudyard Kipling’s inspiring poem, “If” which contains this line, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same.”

After our oldest son, Hayden, comes home from school, I ask him how his day was.

Most days, the response is a perfunctory, “Good.”

If pressed for more information, he will often respond, that he can’t remember anything.

It’s very frustrating for Karen and I as we have a genuine interest in our kids’ lives and want to be involved in their world.

I’ve laughed about this with other parents (especially of boys), who relay their similar experiences, so you can imagine my delight when our school newsletter came through with 10 great questions that are designed to start slightly more interesting conversations with our children. These questions originally come from the excellent and helpful site, blogs.kidspot.com.au/villagevoices and you can be sure that I’ll be trying them out over the next few weeks: Read the rest of this entry »

But I suspect that it was good fear because the stakes were high, we were marching into the unknown and we weren’t 100% sure if the business would be a long-term success. Under those circumstances, it’s perfectly normal and appropriate to feel a few butterflies in the stomach and occasionally wonder if you’ve made the right decision.

It would have been bad fear if I had allowed these concerns to stop me from making a bold decision about our future.

As I reflect on these feelings, I can see a few circumstances where we can either experience good fear and take action or allow bad fear to rule our lives, severely limiting our effectiveness.

It’s OK to feel a little bit afraid before you step on stage to deliver a message. That’s good fear.

It becomes bad fear when you don’t get up at all.

It’s OK to feel a bit nervous before a job interview. That’s good fear.

It’s bad fear if you allow it to stop you from applying for jobs and advancing your career.